Director of Learning & Teaching

Mark's is a highly experienced academic in medical science whose research interests and publications span science (osteoarthritis, cell signalling and microscopy) and education (mobile learning, assessment and digital literacy).
The Higher Education Academy named Mark as a National Teaching Fellow in December 2016.

Background

As Director of Learning & Teaching and part of the Faculty Management Group in our Faculty of Medical Science, Mark is responsible for fostering excellence in teaching, learning and assessment, and the design and implementation of strategies to enrich the staff/student experience. He also has a strong interest in assessment and mobile/technology-integrated learning.

Before accepting a position at Anglia Ruskin, Mark worked for the University of Greenwich in the Educational Development Unit and was a programme leader and Teaching Fellow for the University of Westminster. He is a founding member and co-lead for the national Students as Change Agents Network and was the project manager for the Jisc-funded Digital Literacies in Higher Education project. Previously, he led the iPad in Science project, and developed a new model of assessment feedback as part of the Jisc-funded project, Making Assessment Count. He developed MapMyProgramme an open-source tool to support the holistic design of assessment and in 2012 was award a prize of ALT-C/Google for this work.

Mark is a co-conveyor for the Society of Research into Higher Education, Newer Researchers’ Network, a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy, and co-managing editor for the Journal of Educational Innovation, Partnership and Change.

Research interests

Osteoarthritis and mechanotransduction

Calcium signalling

The role of the cytoskeleton in chondroprotection

Digital literacy in staff and students

Mobile learning

Assessment and feedback

Science: Chondrocytes, the only cell-type in articular cartilage are responsible for the synthesis and regulation of the tissue responding to numerous physiological, mechanical and biochemical stimuli. The transduction of these stimuli is essential for function and a failure may lead to osteoarthritis, a debilitating syndrome that currently has no cure. Mark’s scientific interests reside around the role of the cytoskeleton skeleton (Kerrigan and Hall, 2005; Parker et al, 2012) and intracellular calcium (Kerrigan and Hall, 2008) as two key signal transduction mediators. Coupled to these are an interest in the regulation of the chondrocytic phenotype (Qusous and Kerrigan, 2012), shown to change in chondrocytes during tissue expansion and the protection of chondrocytes following impact trauma. Drawing from a range of imaging, molecular and pharmacological methodologies, this work aims to elucidate the role of mechanotransition in osteoarthritis as possible route for treatment generation.

Education: The experience gained from university shapes a student’s lifelong personal and professional development and it is the duty of an institution to optimise this valuable time. Assessment is a core part of the experience and it is important to be able to support students to critically engage with their feedback whilst maximizing the impact of feedforward and peer engagement. Furthermore, the development of strategic assessment practice as part of holistic curriculum design and delivery is essential and the ethos of ‘assessment for learning’ and the use of assessment as a vehicle for academic and professional development are key. Linked to assessment is the student journey coupled to student transition and the impact of digital, including mobile, environments. Drawing from a range of methodologies and practice, Mark’s works aims to enhance the student assessment experience, through the critical and engaged use of digital technologies aligned to the student journey and digital literacy.

Areas of research supervision

(PhD) The role of del1 in chondrocyte expansion and mechanotransduction – an investigative study

(PhD) Mechanical load & cartilage physiology

(PhD) Investigation into the immuno-therapeutic potential of melanocortin peptides on activated chondrocytes

(MPhil) Trauma and osteoarthritis - the role of cell volume and mechanotransduction

Teaching

Mark's teaching includes physiology and anatomy, cell biology, biochemistry and research methods. He also designs and delivers staff CPD in assessment and feedback, teaching and learning, and digital literacy. His teaching ethos is led by learning and working in partnership, ensuring transparency and recognising students as individuals.

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